Use this glossary to look up the meanings of words you come across on this website, or in your astrological reading. Just select the first letter of the word you need and click on it in the table below to go straight to that sector.

Z

Zaminium

Bonatus so names the fortunate conjunction of a planet with the "heart of the Sun". See Cazimi.

Zenith

The point directly overhead, or highest point. Also the mid-heaven (MC).

Zero Point

The origin of a co-ordinate point system in mathematics, in mystical terms it is a point in time and space where matter and anti-matter merge. It has been deemed also to be the point in the cosmic ground of being where an individual monad or spark of consciousness is located. A void which is paradoxically a plenum. Certain schools of yoga and the qabbala hold that this point is to be found in each human heart and is the spiritual focal point for the formation of the human body/mind and soul.

Zero Point Energy (ZPE)

In physics, the zero-point energy is the lowest possible energy that a quantum mechanical physical system may have and is the energy of the ground state. This is the basis for the idea that the Spherical Standing Wave Structure of Matter (WSM) may allow the harnessing of unlimited energy from spirit.

Zeus

Zeus, the Thunderer, was the leader of the ancient Olympian Gods, the equivalent in Greek of Jupiter.

Zodiac

The "circle of animals". A zone or belt in space through which, from our viewpoint, the planets move. A symbolic geometric construction around 15 to 18 degrees wide, it is divided into 12 signs, each of 30 degrees longitude (making 360 degrees in all), with the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun, as its middle line.

Zodiac [Fixed]: the sidereal zodiac of the fixed stars, based on the constellations

Zodiac [Moveable, or Natural]: the tropical zodiac of the seasons, so called because its starting point, the first degree of Aries (the Vernal Point, or Equinox), moves very slightly by precession with regard to the constellations of the Fixed Zodiac

The "False Dawn" of the The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. It is now believed by scientists to be sunlight reflected from the cosmic dust left over from the formation of the planets, billions of years ago. It is usually seen projected as a faint backdrop to the Zodiac, either before dawn, or else after sunset, depending on the time of year.

The Book of Splendour (hebrew: Sepher ha-Zohar), attributed to first century Rabbi Simeon Ben Iochai, the Zohar is one of the most important kabbalistic documents, containing material that dates back to the time of the Chaldeans. Said to contain the ancient keys to the mysteries of existence, modern Hebrew scholars declare there is internal evidence that at least parts of the Zohar were not written until after 1264 CE.

Zoidia

Plural of Zoidion.

Zoidion

Ancient Greek name for Sign, which imputes the sense of a living being (or the image of a living being) rather than just a spatial container (ie for planets etc).